As the need for agricultural efficiency and productivity continues to increase, producers must find ways to maximize their crop's potential. Economic drivers arise from increases in fertilizer and herbicide cost, and environmental sanctions call for better pesticide management. Precision agriculture concepts and methods are showing great promise in meeting the world's needs for efficient agricultural practices and are becoming a staple in most row crop producers' management strategies. For instance, cotton and corn producers are using yield monitors to define and assess different zones of production and are managing these zones with variable rate application of inputs. Application of yield monitoring technologies to the production of cotton and corn has improved crop management and profits as they allow the producer to make real time adjustments to management strategy when the yield goals for zones are not met. Through such strategies producers are making progress in increasing yield while decreasing cost and field inputs.
The development of precision agriculture devices and methods that would be applicable to the peanut harvest could similarly improve crop management and profits in this industry. Producers are already using zone management in peanut harvesting but unfortunately have no way of quantifying whether what they are doing is working or is not working: they have no report card.
Research has been carried out in an attempt to develop precision agriculture yield monitoring systems that can be viable in peanut harvesting. For example, Thomas et al. (Applied Eng. in Agric. 15(3):211-216, 1999; U.S. Pat. No. 6,525,276) developed a Peanut Yield Monitoring System (PYMS) that included load cells mounted below the hopper basket of a peanut harvester. Further studies (Durrence et al., Precision Agriculture, 1(3):301-317, 1999) evaluated the PYMS and showed that the system was able to construct field data for the harvested crop. Research was also conducted using the PYMS to detect disease in peanut plots (Perry et al., ASABE Paper No. 021167. St Joseph, Mich.: ASABE, 2002). In this study, researchers found that the yield monitoring system was able to be spatially correlated to diseases in the field as a function of yield. Unfortunately, while the PYMS demonstrated good ability to predict load and field weight, its in-load resolution was poor relative to yield monitoring technologies available for grains and cotton.
Another study (Kirk et al., ASABE Paper No. 12-1337625. St Joseph, Mich.: ASABE, 2012) developed a system for recording yield from research plot studies using load cells on batches of peanuts from each test plot. While this system could not be adapted for use by a producer, it was reported to have the potential to more than double harvestable plots per clock hour and triple plots per labor hour for research studies.
Research has also been conducted in the use of optical yield monitor sensors in peanut harvests. Thomasson and Sui (Applied Eng. in Agric. 19(6):631-636, 2003) developed and tested an optical sensor for pneumatically conveyed crops. The research concluded that the optical monitor experienced a mean error of 5.7% and a maximum error of 26.6%. Research employing the Ag Leader® optical cotton yield monitors for peanut harvesting was also conducted (Rains et al., Applied Eng. in Agric. 21(6):979-983, 2005). This research showed that the Ag Leader® system can be used for peanut harvest but had potential for errors from abrasion as well as need for further research in calibration. Methods for reducing dust and abrasion were made for the second year of the study. Further adaptations and modifications to this system were tested by Porter et al. (ASABE Paper No. 12-1338357, 2012). They developed and tested “dirt deflector” high density plastic ramps upstream from the optical sensors to reduce the amount of debris that would be flowing across the sensors. The deflectors also included a slit in the chute to allow air to pass over the sensors to act as a cleaning flow of air over the sensors. Optical yield monitors are the only yield monitoring systems for peanuts noted in published research studies in recent years. Problems still exist with optical yield monitors, however. For instance, problems with debris, particularly mud and other heavy debris that is not adequately removed by deflectors, still present significant issues in accurately monitoring crop yield.
Impact plate yield monitoring systems are used in modern agricultural practices for conventional grain crops such as corn to gather data on the mass flow of the crop at various stages of harvest and storage. The system operates by using load cell or other force measurement technology to give a mass flow reading as a function of sum of sensor output per unit time. The data obtained in field use can be instantaneous and can be a good indicator of variation in the field zones. These data can then be used to make management decisions and prescription maps for field applications. Unfortunately, existing impact plate yield monitoring systems are not applicable to peanut harvesting.
A need exists for yield monitoring technology devices and methods that can be used to improve management capabilities in peanut harvesting. The successful development of commercially available devices and methods will translate to increases in profit in peanut production.